Chelsea's forgotten man Demba Ba shows he's for real with goal that secures his place in club folklore

The Blues striker may have disappeared at Stamford Bridge when Jose Mourinho took over, but last night he was the Special One's hero

Heroic: Ba may not get a chance to prove himself, but he'll always have Paris

Of all the less-than-real strikers in Jose Mourinho’s unhappy roster, Demba Ba was perhaps the least real of all.

Maybe it was the stigma of being the only player signed by Rafa Benitez in his time in charge at Chelsea that had daubed him with the mark of Cain.

Whatever it was, he has only made three starts this season and few gave him a chance of even seeing action last night.

He has not just been behind Fernando Torres and Samuel Eto’o in the strikers’ pecking order. He has been behind Andre Schurrle, too, as Mourinho has made little attempt to hide his scorn for his options up front.

He has become the forgotten man in the Chelsea squad this season, the man for the dead rubber or the quiet occasion.

The last time he started a game was in December, when Chelsea played Steaua Bucharest in a Champions League game that didn’t matter.

Cesar Azpilicueta’s shot squirmed through a crowded penalty area and Ba forced his way in front of his marker to meet it first.

It was not a particularly clean contact. In fact, it cannoned beyond Paris Saint-Germain keeper Salvatore Sirigu off Ba’s trailing leg.

Ba did not care. For one night, he was everybody’s hero. Jose Mourinho’s hero. Stamford Bridge’s hero.

“I am happy for him,” Mourinho said. “He is a good guy, a good professional and a good group man. The fact that I played him in front of Fernando Torres made him feel like he didn’t have ‘No.3 striker’ written on his back any more.”

Ba will at least have a place in Chelsea folklore now because this was one of the most dramatic finishes to a match here in the decade or more since Roman Abramovich took control of the club.

His was a strike that took Mourinho into his eighth Champions League semi-final and gave Chelsea an unlikely shot at winning the trophy for the second time in three years.

Whether Ba gets another chance to prove himself remains to be seen. Whether the 28-year-old will be at Stamford Bridge next season is also open to doubt.

But whatever happens in Ba’s Chelsea’s career now, he’ll always have Paris.